Give Me A Break
by Spice of Life
Summary: If Race Across New Zealand had gone differently.


I've taken artistic liberties with this and changed a few of the circumstances. First of all, this is a 'what could have happened' kind of fic (so it's AU I suppose). It takes place during the last race in _Race Across New Zealand_. Secondly, Lars is there. Why? I like Lars. He's cool. I suppose that's kind of it.

Oh, right. I don't own Rocket Power. Because if I did, it would still be on. grumbles

…

Something had gone wrong with his snowboard; that much he remembered.

He remembered going off a small jump, and the latch on his right foot unhinging. He remembered landing on his knee, his body rolling and twisting down the hill. He remembered his head hitting a rock the size of his fist.

What he couldn't remember was what had happened in the time between then and waking up in a hospital room swarming with nurses.

…

"If I ever catch that little…"

Reggie sighed, rubbing her eyes tiredly, "There's nothing you can do about it now, rocket boy."

Otto looked livid, "I can beat the--"

"Otto!" Ray shouted, "settle. Theodore didn't mean for any of this to happen. Chester messed with the equipment."

Otto sighed into his hands, "I traded him boards."

"This isn't your fault, Otto." Ray said, putting down the magazine he had been flipping through the past few hours.

"I traded him boards, dad!" Otto yelled, causing a few others in the waiting room to stare, "I told him that his board was faster, so I should have it." He sighed into his hands again, "So he gave it to me, and I gave him mine. And now he has a broken knee, and a concussion…"

"He'll be fine, Otto." Sam tried, "The doctor said--"

"That he shattered 9 pieces of his knee cap, sprained his wrist, and that he needs surgery if he ever wants to be off crutches." Otto said, "He's not fine."

…

"Nice to see you awake, Mr. Rodriguez."

Someone's head was looming over his, shining a harsh light into his pupils. He closed his eyes quickly, trying to shield them with his hands. He paused when he realized that one hand was extremely heavy, and the other was attached to something.

"Now, now Maurice," The head replied, "Don't agitate your wrist. Open your eyes nice and big, okay?"

It was then that he realized that he was rather tired, and decided to follow the advice of his brain rather then the looming head. He closed his eyes, only to find them being re-opened.

"I need you to look into the light, Maurice." The head was saying, its words oddly disjointed and mumbled. He suddenly felt a searing pain in his right leg, and the room began to spin. Black spots danced before his eyes, and then everything went dark.

…

Lars had learned a lot of hospital lingo in the past few hours. 'Patella' meant kneecap. A 'stellate fracture' meant that not only had Twister broken his 'patella', he had broken it into almost a dozen pieces. Over half of his kneecap had to be removed, and the rest had to be wired together. But it got better; not only had he sustained damage to his kneecap, he had also broken the top of his lower leg bone. That meant, Lars understood, that his bones were also going to be screwed together.

Basically, Twister's right leg was going to be attached by pieces of metal. Legs attached by screws and sports did not mix, Lars realized. Not only was his leg a Frankenstein invention gone wrong, but his left wrist was sprained. Not only was his wrist sprained, but he had a three and a half inch long gash on his forehead.

In short, he was going to have to explain to his parents why his baby brother was currently looking like he had just been run over by a tow truck. It wasn't something that he was looking forward too, as he knew they would find a way to blame him. Luckily his parents were on a completely different continent, and (even more luckily), his parents were also away at a convention and Lars (so luckily that he almost couldn't believe it) had accidentally lost their contact number.

Right now he didn't think he needed his parents. He was sixteen years old, old enough to take care of himself _and _his baby brother. Although he often acted as if he couldn't stand his brother (okay, _all_ the time), he really did love him. Lars, however, decided to show his adoration by pounding his brother every chance he got. He wasn't quite sure why, but he knew Twister understood and still loved him as well.

That was why he got so angry when the doctor came in to tell them that Twister was finally awake.

The Rockets stood up; prepared to go in when the doctor told them that only family could enter.

"But we are family!" Reggie said.

"I'm sorry, but only immediate family can visit him at the moment." The doctor stated, nodding to his clipboard, "So Lars? Are you ready?"

"Lars?" Otto scoffed, "_Lars_ can go in, but we can't?"

Lars rolled his eyes, "Yes _Otto_, in case you forgot, Twister _is_ my brother."

"Dad, this isn't fair!" Otto whined, "Lars doesn't even like Twister and he gets to go in!"

"Otto…" Ray warned, putting his hands on his son's shoulders to calm him down.

Lars angrily stomped past the doctor, knocking into Otto as he went.

"Dad, do something!" Otto shouted, "We should get to go in, not Lars!"

"Shut it, Otto!" Reggie said as Raymundo opened his mouth to talk, "Lars is Twister's brother, he cares about him too, so shut up and sit down!"

Otto's mouth flapped like a goldfish, and he dropped into his seat, pointedly ignoring Reggie. Sam was pretending to have not heard the argument, and was staring into a Popular Science magazine.

"Whatever," Otto finally replied a few minutes later, "but we better get to go see him soon."

…


End file.
